From: "John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx> Date: January 10, 2009 11:49:10 AM GMT-05:00 To: EGS1217@xxxxxxx Subject: learning to play Reply-To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Elizabeth,
I must respectfully disagree with you about the following:
John: Maybe you aren't looking at the same instructional materials I've been checking out recently? There are some dynamite tutorials on YouTube courtesy of Adam Gussow, Jason Ricci, Ronnie Shellist (among others)....who teach, show and demonstrate all the positions.
Adam Gussow only teaches first second and third--NOTHING about fourth or fifth. In fact, AG is oblivious to fifth because in one video he says there's no reason to acquire or carry a Aflat harp, which is the harmonica used to play C minor in fifth position. It is must have harp for anyone playing fifth since C minor gets called all the time. Great instructional videos in most other respects, though.
I haven't watched all of Jason's stuff, but I've seen a lot of it. I don't recall him saying anything about fourth or fifth position except maybe in passing.
I haven't seen as much of Shellist's stuff, but there was no mention of fourth or fifth in the ones I did see. Of the three his stuff appears to be the most basic.
I once emailed David Barrett about why none of his material deals with fifth position, pointing out what i consider to be the very substantial advantages of using fifth to play in minor keys. I got a very nice reply, Dave did not disagree with me, but basically said that fifth wasn't used all that much. But, with all due respect to DB, it should be.
I've got your posts with the links you sent to Igor. When i have a little time, I'll check them out and if they prove me wrong, I'll acknowledge any error on my part.
Best regards,
JP